The girls really struck me by having that strange mix of maturity and silliness again. They make up codes for calling the police and Mary Anne builds burglar alarms! But Claudia calls the police when she thinks there's actual danger, which is may more than I would have managed at her age. (Heck, it's more than I did manage at her age- my friend and I got scared when we were babysitting when we were 12, and we called our parents!)

I also really loved the scenes with Claudia & Mimi and Claudia & Janine. I legit teared up, reading about Claudia painting Mimi's portrait. My heart! And I liked that Mimi pointed out that good relationships take work, even with family members, and Claudia took it to heart.

On a lighter note: how did Claudia get to seventh grade without knowing her times tables? That's like, 4th grade material!